Over the past 5 years, there's been a massive improvement in some of the less expensive rods, which previously were like fishing with a brick or a noodle. Don't rule out some of the cheaper rods, if warranty isn't important to you and the cost factor is. The BPS Carbonlites and the Abu Garcia Veritas rods are a few priced under $100 that have great sensitivity. As the previous posts said, these won't match the sensitivity of a Loomis GLX or IMX, but they are close.